The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems and methods for evaluating wind turbine performance, such as at a wind power plant.
Wind turbines typically include multiple blades extending from a central hub. The hub is rotatably coupled to a nacelle suspended above the ground by a tower. Generally, the nacelle houses an electric generator coupled to the hub and configured to generate electrical power as the blades are driven to rotate by the wind. Wind turbine blades are typically designed and manufactured to efficiently transfer wind energy into rotational motion, thereby providing the generator with sufficient rotational energy for power generation.
Wind power plants typically consist of multiple wind turbines of this type spread over a given geographic region. Wind passing over the region causes blades associated with each wind turbine to rotate, thereby generating electrical power. In such a wind power plant, each turbine is expected to see generally similar wind and climate conditions due to being situated in the same geographic region. However, at any given moment, the precise wind and climate conditions a wind turbine is exposed to may differ from other turbines at the plant due to microclimate and/or terrain variations unique to the turbine.
Further, a given turbine may exhibit different performance characteristics from other turbines due to manufacturing variations between the turbines and/or human or programming errors in controlling or operating a turbine control system associated with the plant. Due to some or all of these myriad factors, wind turbines at a given plant may exhibit variation in their performance. The extent of performance variation among turbines, however, is generally not well understood due to the confounding of the above-described factors as well as other factors. Thus, it may be difficult to identify those turbines providing lower than expected performance at a wind plant, much less to address such low performance.